Pain
Nagato (長門, Nagato), also known as Pain (ペイン,Pein), was the recognised leader of Akatsuki and Amegakure as well as a major antagonist of the series. Referred to as "Leader" by all Akatsuki members (except for his partner, Konan), he directed the actions of the rest of the members and maintained authority over them. It was later revealed that he had secretly collaborated with Tobi, who acted as Akatsuki's main benefactor.[4] Nagato is also a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, who are distantly related to the Senju clan. Background When Nagato was a child, Madara Uchiha transplanted his own eyes into the young boy without his knowledge.Nagato lived with his parents in a village somewhere on the outskirts of Amegakure. One day, during the Second Shinobi World War, two Konoha shinobi attempted to find some rest and food in their thought-to-be-abandoned home. Believing that the shinobi were there to kill them, his parents died during the ensuing chaos in their effort to protect Nagato, as confused and shocked, the Konoha ninja mistook them for enemy shinobi. After witnessing his parents death, Nagato in his grief used the Rinnegan for the first time and killed the assailants.[7] Nagato would eventually come to regard this as the first of two great sources of pain in his life,[8] only later realising that it was him who had killed the two shinobi.The orphaned Nagato wandered the country, travelling from house to house alongside a dog named Chibi, begging for food. Eventually, Nagato started to starve and later collapsed, which lead to him being found by Konan, who gave him a loaf of bread before taking him to the hideout she and Yahikohad made their home. At first, Yahiko was reluctant to have another mouth to feed, but reconsidered having Nagato hang around due to both boys sharing the dream of a world without suffering. The three then began to search for supplies, often stealing them to survive. One day, Chibi was killed in the crossfire from Hanzō's fight with several Konoha shinobi, including the Sannin, with Nagato and the other orphans later mourning the dog's death.[10] As the war was nearing its conclusion, the three orphans encountered the Sannin themselves. Although Orochimaru intended to kill the children to put them out of their misery, Jiraiya decided to remain in Amegakure to teach the trio how to protect themselves.Soon after Jiraiya began living with the orphans, Nagato and Yahiko were attacked by a chūnin from Iwagakure. The need to protect his friend caused Nagato unknowingly resort to his Rinnegan once again to defend Yahiko, killing the ninja. When Jiraiya found out about this, he decided to train them in ninjutsu.[12] Nagato was very emotional about killing the ninja and asked Jiraiya for help so he could protect Konan and Yahiko. Jiraiya's response was for Nagato to grow up and to use his eyes to find the peace that they both desired for the world. Three years later, the orphans had become competent ninja, so Jiraiya returned to Konoha.Over the years, news of their exploits would reach Jiraiya, often consisting of the death of someone who opposed them. Eventually, he received word that they had all died.[14] In truth, Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko began a quest to find peace by forming an organisation called Akatsuki with Yahiko as its leader. They became full-fledged Amegakure ninja and gathered followers who shared their philosophies as well as their dream of an end to all conflict.[15] At some point,Obito Uchiha and Zetsu found Nagato, with Obito introducing himself as Madara Uchiha.[16] The trio had their doubts about the masked man actually being Madara, but Nagato became interested in his plans after hearing "Madara" mention the Rinnegan and what he could do with it.Fearing that Akatsuki would become a threat to his regime, Hanzō schemed with Danzō of Konoha's Root to eliminate its three leading members by making it seem that Hanzō wanted to discuss peace. Once the trap was sprung, Hanzō placed Nagato in a position where he had to kill Yahiko with a kunai, otherwise Konan would die. Before Nagato could take either option, Yahiko forcibly impaled himself onto the kunai that was placed in Nagato's hand, sparing him from making such a horrid decision himself. In his final moments, Yahiko told Nagato to survive as he believed him to be the saviour that Jiraiya spoke of. The death of his friend marked the second great pain of Nagato's life.Devastated as he retrieved Konan along with Yahiko's corpse, a furious Nagato launched an attack on Hanzō's men. After summoning the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and becoming emaciated from the numerous black rods that it embedded in his back, Nagato slaughtered everyone but Hanzō, who used a trap to cripple Nagato's legs. Becoming the new leader of Akatsuki, now going by the name of "Pain", Nagato severed his ties to Amegakure and resolved to show the world what the meaning of pain is.Devising a means to regain movement by converting Yahiko's body into the first of his Six Paths of Pain, the Deva Path, Pain led rebelling forces in the Amegakure civil war and took control of the village by assassinating Hanzō. Concealing his true body in the shadows, and becoming a "god" to Amegakure's people, Pain solidified his leadership by systematically killing anyone who had ties to the former leader, from friends and family to ambassadors from other ninja villages. Abilities As the leader of the S-rank criminal organisation Akatsuki, and one of the two sides of the Amegakure civil war, Nagato was an extraordinarily powerful shinobi, and recognised as the most powerful member of Akatsuki. He was Kabuto Yakushi's second strongestreincarnated shinobi since he noted that he'd have to bring out histrump card after he was sealed.[29] His partner, Konan, had stated that he had never lost a single battle, and that he was "unbeatable".[30][31] Fukasaku stated that without understanding Pain's power, no one could defeat him,[32] and even Obito noted that Nagato was invincible while praising Jiraiya.[33] Nagato was able to kill Jiraiya with relative ease after revealing all six of his bodies. In praising his former teacher, Nagato later noted that he had underestimated Jiraiya's level of genjutsu usage, stating that he likely would not have won if Jiraiya had uncovered the secret behind his Six Paths of Pain technique.[25] It was with these six bodies that Nagato led a civil war in Amegakure that not only easily killed Hanzō and overthrew his regime, but also eradicated his lineage and anyone remotely associated with him and his ideals.[34][35] Zetsu expressed shock when Nagato was defeated by Naruto Uzumaki, stating that he never thought Nagato would ever lose, even in a weakened state.After being reincarnated by Kabuto Yakushi after regaining his vitality he was able to easily overwhelm both Naruto Uzumaki and Killer B. He would have killed them both had it not been for the intervention of Itachi Uchiha. It took the combined efforts of Naruto, B, and Itachi to successfully defeat Nagato.Nagato's legs were greatly damaged in a battle against Hanzō. As a result, even though he was able stand on his own, he lacked full mobility. To make up for this, while alive, Nagato used the Six Paths of Pain to fight for him while he remained in a mechanical walker. When he was reincarnated by Kabuto, he used various summons to move around and to keep himself out of range of his opponents' attacks. Though even after being rejuvenated by Gyūki's chakra, which he had absorbedfrom Killer B, Nagato's mobility was still limited.While not shown in full, Nagato had shown a high level of taijutsu showcased through his Six Paths of Pain, and especially the Asura Path. He was easily able to overwhelm characters as skilled in taijutsu as Kakashi Hatake through his Deva Path with a Chakra Disruption Blade despite hisSharingan being active. He was also able to contend with Jiraiya's Sage Mode strength, able to block one of his kicks through Human Path with one hand despite the path being blinded. Not only that, when his Deva Path was under a cool down after using the gigantic version of Shinra Tenseihe was able to fight Naruto Uzumaki nigh-evenly in taijutsu while he was getting ready to get back into Sage Mode despite Naruto's extensive taijutsu training with the toads.He has also displayed highly impressive speed and reflexes as well. When rescuing Konan from Hanzōhe could cover a massive amount of distance in an instant with Hanzō being unable to react until after he had saved Konan. He could easily react to Naruto's thrown Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, either dodging with less than a second to spare or blocking it with Preta Path. And after hisreincarnation he was able to attack Killer B from behind after blowing him a considerable distance with a focused Shinra Tensei, practically appearing right behind him out of nowhere despite his limited mobility.While acting through the Deva Path, Nagato displayed a wide range of techniques. Nagato was responsible for Akatsuki's meetings by using a technique that allowed him to pick up their thought waves and broadcast them in the form of an astral projection to a specific location. During the time when a tailed beast was being extractedfrom its jinchūriki, Nagato would set up various ways to stall and prevent potential rescuers from getting to them in time to stop the extraction. Among these various techniques was the Five-Seal Barrier, which prevented anyone from destroying anything that was within its boundaries without simultaneously removing the five seals — an effective method to split enemy forces. Nagato also added another safety procedure, which activated once the seals had been removed, creating copies that perfectly resembled the ones who removed the seals, imitating their battle skills as well. Another technique that Nagato used to delay and stop pursuers from interrupting the extraction was the Shapeshifting Technique, which allowed Nagato to allocate a portion of an individual's chakra and transfer it into a living human sacrifice, allowing the original to fight by controlling their "copy". This allowed the sacrifices to attain whatever kekkei genkai, techniques and weapons the individual possessed. However, once the allocated chakra was finished along with the sacrifice's own, the technique would cancel and the copy would be killed.Nagato was able to use the Summoning Technique to summon Konan and the other Six Paths. He could also use the Amplification Summoning Technique, which allowed him to summon an animal with a specific condition. Furthermore, when guarding Amegakure Nagato was able to use the Rain Tiger at Will Technique to make it rain. This rain was infused with his chakra and as such, served as a large-scale sensory technique for him in his village. Nagato was also a sensor, and was able to detect the build up of Amaterasu before it was launched and even pinpoint Kabuto Yakushi kilometres away despite the latter having erected a barrier around his location. Rinnegan agato wielded the power of the legendary Rinnegan,[6] a dōjutsuwhich was originally possessed by the Sage of the Six Paths, the world's first shinobi, and the founder of modern ninjutsu. Even as a child, Jiraiya noted that Nagato had mastered every ninjutsu he taught him and with the Rinnegan, he was able to master all five basic nature transformations as a child — something that was completely unprecedented.[39] According to Ibiki, the Rinnegan allowed Nagato to use any technique he wished.[40] Nagato was also adept at the use of genjutsu, having used it to install mental barriers and traps in his minions' minds to prevent others from accessing secret information.[41] Similar to the other great dōjutsu, the Rinnegan bestowed him with enhanced vision, allowing him to see chakra and otherwise invisible barrier techniques, which he used during his invasion of Konoha to detect the barrier around the perimeter of the location. Due to his possession of Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan and his own Senju lineage, Nagato was also able to summon and control the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.As stated by Konan, Nagato was able to use all of the ablities of the Six Paths Technique himself, as they are all abilities of the Rinnegan. This was later demonstrated after he was reincarnated byKabuto Yakushi. With his ability to simultaneously utilise the various abilities of the Six Paths Technique with one body, Nagato proved to be a formidable opponent, easily overwhelming Naruto and Killer B at the same time. Naruto noted that since he was using his real body, the strength and speed of his techniques were on a much higher level.[42] However, when fighting on his own, Nagato was without the protection and shared vision offered by the Six Paths of Pain. Six Paths Of Pain Nagato's most powerful and most used technique was the Six Paths of Pain (ペイン六道, Pein Rikudō). This technique allowed Nagato to control six separate bodies as though they were his own. Each of these bodies were reanimated corpses that were both kept mobile by and made use of Nagato's own chakra. By using these six bodies for combat rather than himself, Nagato avoided the risk of being killed in battle by a stronger opponent and compensated for his lack of mobility. As Nagato's vision was linked with the bodies, he essentially had six fields of vision, making it virtually impossible for his enemies to attack any of the bodies without being seen. Nagato's vision was also linked with the King of Hell and the various creatures he summoned, which also possessed Rinnegan. While controlling the Six Paths under the alias of "Pain", Nagato still regarded the bodies as separate entities from himself.[43] The Paths were unable to feel physical pain, as they were merely manipulated corpses, which Ibiki Morino discovered when he tried torturing the second Animal Path.While making use of the technique, Nagato remained in a machine that moved with six relatively small mechanical legs and used several large chakra rods on his back to transmit chakra to the corpses. From his location, the chakra was picked up by the numerous receivers, modelled as body piercings on each body. To control them, Nagato had to be close by, and ideally at the highest possible point, so he could have the best possible range. Certain techniques, such as Chibaku Tensei could only be used through the Six Paths while they were within a certain range of Nagato. His technique output was also increased while focusing on only one of the Six Paths, although this would leave the others vulnerable and, in the case of overusing the Deva Path's ability, shorten Nagato's lifespan and require the Deva Path's power to recharge for a longer amount of time than usual. Nagato was also able to fire chakra receivers from his mechanical walker and, from a close enough range, control the bodies of those pierced by them with his chakra, although this effect could be resisted.Based on the six Buddhist Realms of Reincarnation, each body was named after one of the Six Paths techniques: Deva, Asura, Human, Animal, Preta, and Naraka. The only common feature shared by these bodies was their bright orange hair and their Rinnegan. Each also had a vast number of body and facial piercings of various shapes, sizes, and patterns. Each body seemed to serve a specific purpose in battle, such as summoning, repairing, and defensive capability. Nagato himself was regarded as the seventh Pain, the "Outer Path", with control over the forces of life and death. The Outer Path abilities also allowed for Nagato's use of the Six Paths of Pain. Fukasaku stated that the best way of fighting Pain was to take out the Six Paths one at a time, as they were most formidable when fighting together. Intelligence Nagato has shown a quite analytical and strategic mind, and could be considered a genius. At age 10 he managed to master all five basic Nature Transformations as well as Yin Release, Yang Release, and Yin–Yang Release which according to Jiraiya is completely unprecedented. When in battle, he was careful to keep his Six Paths of Pain a complete secret, using one or at most three bodies to engage an opponent while keeping the other three in reserve. If the three were defeated, he could easily send the other three to reinforce them and attack the enemy when they are off guard.When he launched his Invasion of Pain on Konohagakure, he split and designated his bodies into specific tasks: Asura Path, Animal Path, and Preta Path ran diversionary tactics while Deva Path, Human Path, and Naraka Path ran reconnaissance. With this he was able to engage the entire village at once while keeping his true intentions a secret and ultimately he was able to accomplish his objective in locating Naruto. Due to Konoha starting to figure out his secrets, as well asTsunade's defiance, he destroyed the village to preserve the former.When engaging Naruto, he chose a specific formation that would buy enough time for Deva Path's powers to regenerate and keep Naraka Path safe. Using this strategy he was able to temporarily defeat Naruto despite being exhausted and at a disadvantage from the start.